Gloucester Green is a square in central
Oxford, England, and the site of the city's
bus station.
It lies between
George Street to the south and
Beaumont Street
Beaumont Street is a street in the centre of Oxford, England.
The street was laid out from 1828 to 1837 with elegant terraced houses in the Regency style. Before that, it was the location of Beaumont Palace, now noted by a plaque near the j ...
to the north. To the west is
Worcester Street and to the east is Gloucester Street.
The green was once an open space outside
Gloucester College (now
Worcester College
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...
), after which it was named. From 1783 to 1915 a fair was held on the green, and from 1835 to 1932 it was the site of the city's cattle market. In 1935, after the cattle market had been moved, the western half of Gloucester Green became the site of the city's bus station, and the eastern half became a car park.
In 1987, a major redevelopment of the area began. The eastern half became a square, surrounded by shops, restaurants and residential accommodation. A new, smaller, bus station was built on the site of the old bus station, and an office block was built between the bus station and
Worcester Street. An underground car park was also provided.
Today, the Gloucester Green bus station is the Oxford terminus for
long-distance coach services, including
services to London, coaches to
Heathrow,
Gatwick
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...
,
Luton and
Stansted
London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London.
London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
airports, and
route X5 to Cambridge. The bus station is too small to accommodate more than a few local bus services.
A food market is held in the square every Wednesday
and an antiques market every Thursday.
Gloucester Green is surrounded by Oxford theatres: close by are the
Oxford Playhouse and Burton Taylor Studio theatres on Beaumont Street and Gloucester Street, respectively, and the
OFS Studio in the Old Fire Station and the
New Theatre, both on George Street.
Gallery
File:Gloucester Green - geograph.org.uk - 1416142.jpg, View from the entrance of Gloucester Green coach station.
File:The Red Lion - geograph.org.uk - 1416165.jpg, The Red Lion public house, Gloucester Green.
File:The Gloucester Arms - geograph.org.uk - 1215791.jpg, The Gloucester Arms public house, close to the Burton Taylor Studio.
References
{{reflist
Bus stations in England
Squares in Oxford
Transport in Oxford
Transport infrastructure completed in 1989